Family

Introduction

Match the vocabulary 1-10 with the meanings a-j

  1. Mother-in-law
  2. Great Grand Father
  3. Step Sister
  4. Sister-in-law
  5. Cousin
  6. Uncle
  7. Half brother
  8. Second Cousin
  9. Guardian
  10. Nephew
  1. Your father remarries and the new wife already has a daughter.
  2. Your wife’s mother.
  3. Your mother’s mother’s father.
  4. Your father’s brother’s wife’s daughter.
  5. Your mother’s sister’s wife.
  6. The replacement parent if your real parents die.
  7. Your brother’s son.
  8. Your uncle’s daughter’s son.
  9. Your mother marries again and has another son.
  10. Your brother’s wife.

Discuss your family.

What’s life like now that you are away from home?

Are you happy or sad now that you are out of the house?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of student life?

Your future family

Imagine your future family. What do you think they will look like? How will your future husband/wife appear and behave? What do you think your children will be like? Can you imagine your house, your work, your typical day?

Changes in family life

Western Family

The rise of the single parent family and destruction of the nuclear family.

Change in family type in the USA between 1970 and 2000
1970 2000
Nuclear family 40% 24%
Married without children 30% 29%
Single parent family 16% 25%
Other family 11% 16%
Other non-family 3% 6%

Drop in marriage

In Australia, 14% of kids are in single-parent families and 31% are born out of wedlock.

In the UK 25% of kids are in single-parent families and now 51% of UK kids are born out of wedlock.

In South Korea, it is very different. Only 1.6% are born to unmarried parents.

Increase in divorce rates

A chart showing how divorce rates have changed between 1950 and 2010. From 1950 till 1960, divorce rates were low. Typically less then 10 per 1000 married women. Between 1965 and 1980, the dirvorce rate increased sharply to a peak of 23 per 1000 married women and has remained above 20 per 1000 married women ever since.

In the USA, divorce rates are 0.36% per year. Why is divorce more common now than in the past? What has changed in society? What can we do to reverse that change?

Affect of divorce and separation on children, adults etc

Divorce. A photograph is torn in half with the mother and baby on one side and the former husband on the other.

Who should get the house after a divorce? Who should look after the kids? Why do the kids often “feel like a football” when parents divorce?

Teenage and underage pregnancy

Teenage Pregnancy (between ages 15 to 19) throughout the world

Prevalence of teenage pregnancy and aborted teenage pregnancies.
Pregnancy Aborted
USA 8.58% 35.3%
UK 5.09% 41%
Canada 4.44% 49%
Australia 4.4% 54.3%
China 5% unknown

What can be done to reduce the numbers of teenage pregnancies?

Age of Marriage

A wedding in the Danish royal family. The happy couple ride in a horse drawn carriage and wave to on lookers.​

Average Age of 1st Marriage by Country
Country Men Women
UK 2005 30.7 28.5
Russia 2004 26.1 23.3
France 2008 31.6 29.6
China 1990 23.8 22.1
Hong Kong 2011 31.2 28.9
USA 2009 28.9 26.1
Australia 2009 29.6 27.7
Spain 2008 32 29.8
India 2011 26 22.2
Albania 2007 27.7 22.4

Do you see any patterns in the above data? Are any of the numbers surprising to you? What do you think is the cause of differences on this table.

Median age at first marriage graph shows the age declining at the beginning of the 20th century, staying low in the post war years and then rising after 1970. The age for men is consistently higher than that of females but the gap has narrowed from two years to just one year.

Median age at first marriage graph for the USA shows the age declining at the beginning of the 20th century, staying low in the post war years and then rising after 1970. The age for men is consistently higher than that of females but the gap has narrowed from two years to just one year.